Public Library
by Franny-Pazz182
Summary: The rating is for now. The gang get locked in the library and one thing leads to another. Please review!
1. Hey don't look at me!

Here's a new fic I'm starting; and this time it's not a songfic ;;  Please be nice and tell me what you think.  Review!!

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Helga, Arnold, Curly, Rhonda, Gerald, and Phoebe. There they were, sitting at two tables in the library; moaning and groaning.

"What time is it?" Helga asked.

"You asked me that three minutes ago," Phoebe replied, slightly annoyed and looking up from her computer labtop.

"It's not my fault you're the only one who decided to bring a watch." Helga shot back. Phoebe sighed.

"6:57."

Helga slammed her head on the table.

"Relax. We only have an hour left till the library closes," Gerald replied, placing his feet up on the desk.

It was a Saturday. They were assigned a project that had to be completed by that Monday. Of course, they had made the mistake of trusting Curly when the project was due. Monday the twenty-first of December it's due! he told them. From the aide of a phone call from Sheena, they found out only too late that it was Monday the FOURTEENTH of December; not twenty-first.

"You guys, this is impossible. There's no way we're going to get this done by Monday. It's due first thing, too!" Rhonda pointed out.

"Well there's always the option of us not going to school on that particular day," Helga suggested hopfully.

"But it's not even our fault! We should tell the teacher it was all of Curly's doing," Gerald frowned. Everyone glared at Curly.

"Hey! Don't look at me, you guys!" Curly protested with his hands in the air.

"You guys, that's not helping. We can't fix he past, so let's just deal with the present." Phoebe and Arnold told them.

Before they could reply, the light's directly above them shut off. It was dark except for the light from the moon in the window and the pale glow from Phoebes lab top.

"What was that?"

"Curly, are you sure the library closes at eight?" Arnold asked. Curly nodded.

"Maybe...we should go downstairs just to make sure." Rhonda suggested. Arnold knew it was a bad idea to sit on the third floor in the darkest corner. Everyone murmered in agreement and quickly put away their books, notebooks, and utensils, then silently made their way to the closest elevator.

Helga pressed one of the buttons. Nothing.

"What's wrong with these things?" Rhonda asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"You guys, I think the librarys closed," Arnold said. There was an akward silence.

"Big deal," Gerald shrugged. "There has to be a security guard or a janitor around or something." With doubt, they climbled down the stairs and into the first floor.

There was no one. They decided to try the front doors. Curly sped up and reached the front doors. Reading the hours of the library, he laughed nervously, then tried to open the glass doors without turning on any alarms.

"Did you know that the library is closed on Sunday?" he said with an akward smile.

"What's that supposed to mean??" Helga scowled.

"It means that we have till Monday morning to finish our reports," he laughed nervously, backing against the wall.

"What?!" Rhonda asked shrilly.

"You mean we're locked in here until MONDAY MORNING?!" Gerald fumed. Phoebe put her hand on her forehead.

"I Can't BELIEVE you!!" Helga practically screamed, grabbing Curly by the collar of his shirt.

"Helga put Curly down! That's not helping anything!" Arnold told her. "Come one you guys. There has to be SOME ONE still here. Let's go."

And with that, they began their walk into the seemingly endless halls of the library, finding nothing but darkness.

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Please review :D I live for them . 


	2. Anything to Pass the Time

Hey everyone, here's my second chapter :D Just so you all know, they are all juniors in high school; so they are all about sixteen and seventeen. To paint a better picture, here is what they are all wearing. Helga is simply wearing jeans, a hot-pink t-shirt with a black zip-up sweater over it. Curly is wearing a lime green long sleeve shirt that has a hood with an orange t-shirt over it, with jeans also. Arnold is wearing a button up red plaid short sleeved unbuttoned with a long sleeved white shirt underneath with black slacks. Gerald is wearing a blue shirt with a Letterman jacket, and jeans of course. Phoebe is wearing a blue shirt with a blue cardigan and a white shirt underneath that, and Rhonda is of course, wearing black caprees with a long sleeved dark red shirt. Okay, just so you know :) Here's the story now ;;;

So it was settled. They were, without a doubt, stuck in the library. Until Monday morning.

"How are we going to eat?? It's about seven pm, right? So if you think about it, thirty-six hours is when we're going to be able to get out. What are we supposed to eat?" Gerald thought aloud.

"What?! I haven't eaten anything since breakfast!" Rhonda realized in horror.

There was no way Helga was going to tell them about her minurature stash of candy bars.

"Vending machines!" Curly offered.

"The vending machines are all off." Arnold told them bluntly.

"Rhonda! Don't you have a cell phone??" Helga reminded her.

"Oh! Great! Yes, I do!" Rhonda squealed in delight. "We'll be out of here in no time!" Rhonda pulled out her cell phone and turned it on. She dialed her mother's phone number.

"Oh..." Rhonda moaned. "There's no service in here!" There was a chorus of moans. The walls and ceilings were made out of cement.

"Let's face it, guys. We're screwed," Curly told them casually.

"Oh and no thanks to you, right?" Gerald snapped.

"We might as well get comfortable if we're going to be stuck in here for the day and a half," Arnold told them. Helga grinned. She didn't mind being stuck in a place with Arnold for that long. Curly thought a moment.

"Wait! What about the mini-cafe on the bottom floor??" Curly reminded them. There was a silence. For a breif second, they stood there, staring at eachother.

"Let's go!" Helga exclaimed, spinning on her heel and running towards the cafe with the rest of the gang running quickly behind her.

The door to the cafe was open!

They entered the small space and before they could touch anything, Helga shushed them.

"Mute! Mute!!" Helga yelled harshly. "Now we have to think this through. Sure, we got pretty lucky for this place to be open, but we have to think like civilized human beings. What would these "Library employees," Helga held up two of her fingers on each hand. "think if they were to come back on monday morning and half this cafe is raided?? Not only we would get lectured on "How immature teens are today," but we'd have a hefty bill to pay." Helga finished, placing her hands on her hips.

"Helga's got a serious point," Phoebe agreed.

"So what do we do?"

"Not eat at all?"

"But I'm starving!"

"Where's the bathroom?!"

Helga sighed.

"Who all brought money?" Helga asked, raising her hand. Everyone raised their hand but Curly.

"Here's what we do. We buy only what we can afford and pay these people on Monday. I GUESS I'll pay for Curly's food; but only because he told us about this cafe," Helga glared at him.

The kitchen door was locked; so the only thing they could really eat were the chilled glass bottles of juice and the fudge, cookies, and cake behind the glass storage cases.

It was a good thing Helga had brought twenty-five dollars.

They left the cafe with snacks and fruit juice under their arms; figuring they'd pay when the employers came to work on Monday morning.

7:58.

"I'm bored," Curly moaned.

"Get used to it," Gerald told him glumly.

Now the gang was sitting in the Childrens Reading area, sitting comfortably on beanie bags in a small corner.

"So. What do we do now?" Curly asked, staring up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head. Helga laughed.

"We sit." Rhonda said.

"And wait till Monday morning." Phoebe told him casually. Curly glanced at the girls, then at the guys to see if they were serious.

"Screw this," Curly groaned and left towards the young-adult-fiction novels; just out of sight from the rest of them

There was another moment of silence.

"I'm going to make sure he doesn't hurt himself," Gerald got up and followed Curly; half joking.

"Or do something drastic," Arnold too got up; following Gerald.

Now it was just the girls.

More akward silence.

Fifteen minutes later they were playing an intense game of Truth or Dare.

Rhonda looked over at Helga.

"So. Helllga. Truth. Tell me who you like?" Rhonda asked her, grinning. The hair on Helga's neck stood up. This is exactly why she didn't want to play this game. Phoebe looked at her expectantly.

"I'm not telling you," Helga told her firmly, slightly smiling.

"You have to. This is what this game is about," Rhonda told her, closing her eyes in defense. There was a breif silence.

"It's Arnold, isn't it? I know it is!" Rhonda lied, making something up just for the hell of it. Every ounce of blood in Helga's body fled to her face. Rhonda's eyes widened with realization.

"Are you serious?!" Rhonda covered her mouth with surprise as she held back a small laugh. Helga scowled.

"I didn't say anything! Why would I waste my time on that football head?" she lied, thinking quickly.

"Oh man! You expect me to believe that? Especially after the way your face turned bright red? That's rich! Man i can't believe it! At first I was just screwing around! But it's true! YOU LIKE ARNOLD!" Rhonda laughed shrilly.

"Keep it down! Will you?!" Helga told her in a whisper, tilting her head towards where Arnold and them had left too. Helga groaned. There was no use in denying it.

"You listen here, because I'm only going to say this once. If you tell anyone; and I mean ANYONE; then you will NEVER want to look in a mirror again, you got that?!" Helga hissed.

Rhonda giggled, nodding in agreement. She couldn't keep a straight face to save her life. Helga moaned. She was never going to hear the end of this.

"Helga, now do you know w-" Phoebe started. She was interupted by a loud crash that made the three girls jump.

It was coming from where the guys had left too. Startled, they ran to see what had happened.

The site was pitiful.

An entire shelf had fallen over, along with the couple hundred books that were on it. Curly sat in the middle with his glasses half on and a look of pure shock on his face.

"What the hell is going on in here?!" Helga practically screamed.

"Curly! Are you alright?!" Rhonda squealed, running over to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Curly replied with a smirk. He adjusted his red rimmed emo glasses, and pushed off any books that were on him. With weak legs, he stood up and walked out of the pile, careful not to slip on the books.

"What happened?" Phoebe asked quietly. Gerald sighed.

"Curly started climbing the shelf. When we told him to come down, he said it was all for the entertainment," Gerald informed them; still cross from the fact that they had to spend the next 35 hours in there together.

"Curly; you have to put those books back on the shelf," Arnold told him, lowering his eyebrows; still shaken but trying not to show it.

"You're lucky that shelf didn't crush you to death; you know that?" Helga fumed. Gerald put his hands on one end of the shelf, then motioned for Arnold to help lift the other end.

After a few seconds, the shelf was on it's upright position. Helga thrust a book from the pile into Curly's face.

"Start working. It's going to be a few hours to get these in the right order," she smirked.

"What?! Are you crazy?! That'll take me all night! There's no way I'm putting all these books in the right order! " Curly whined.

"Oh and who's idea was it to pull a Laura Croft?" Gerald asked him dryly. Curly began grinding his teeth. It was no use trying to fight against five people.

Furious, and still mumbling to himself, he picked up a book, shoved it in the shelf, picked up another, glanced at the bar code, and shoved the book in front of the last one.

8:37. 


	3. Alone in the Dark

Yay!! My third chapter!! I hope you like it' this one is alot longer then the other ones. Oh, and it's also the first time I put part of any fic into someones point of view, so there might be minor mistakes with "I" instead of "she." Just to let you know. Review like crazy :)

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Thunk.

Thunk.

Thunk.

Thu-

"Helga, please stop that," Phoebe said, looking up from her book that she had randomly pulled off a shelf. Helga hit her head one final time against the wall she was sitting against. Then she moaned and rubbed her head.

"I can't believe our luck." she moaned, then yawned.

"Where are we going to sleep?" Arnold asked curiously.

"Oh no...not another delima," Rhonda shook her head.

"We can sleep on the bean bags and pillows," Phoebe told them as if she had planned that already.

"What about blankets? The heat is all turned off and it's the middle of December," Gerald pointed out.

"We'll figure something out," Phoebe replied.

Helga shot up and gasped with realization.

"What do we do about our parents?!" she said aloud.

"We're supposed to be staying at Rhondas house tonight, remember? And her parents are out of town anyway, right?" Rhonda reminded her, glancing over at Rhonda.

"I know, but what about the rest of you guys?" She looked over to Arnold and Gerald, who were sitting a few feet from her.

"Arnold is sleeping over at my house too. But it doesn't matter anyway because my folks aren't coming home until Monday," he said.

"Curly?" Helga called him; who was still working on the books from the book shelf.

"What?" he asked, walking over the them.

"What are you going to tell you're parents?" Rhonda asked him. He shrugged.

"Whatever. They left my sister in charge, so she can be the one to worry. Anyway, my parents won't be back till Christmas break," he said casually.

"Wow, I'm not so sure that's a brilliant idea," Phoebe raised her eyebrows. Curly sat beside Rhonda; hoping they wouldn't notice that he was attempting to neglect to shelf the books back in order.

"Who cares. I don't. She's probably too busy making out with her stupid boyfriend to take any notice," Curly smirked.

"I didn't know you had an older sister," Arnold lowered an eyebrow.

"Yea, she's almost eighteen. She's a senior cheerleader at our school," he told them, trying not to sound disgusted that he was related to one of those. Gerald thought a second.

"Is she hott?" he laughed. Phoebe winced.

"Don't be stupid," Curly snapped.

"Woa, just asking," Gerald said, holding up his hands in defense.

"Well sorry if I don't look at my sister that way," Curly replied curtly. There was a few minutes of silence. Rhonda smiled.

"I know! Let's play Corn-Trap!" she declared.

"Do I want to know?" Helga mumbled.

"What's that?" Curly asked.

"It's kinda like hide-and-seek. See, the point of the game is to split up and not to make any contact with anyone else. But if you find someone, then you're supposed to stay with them, and then you try to find everyone else. Then the last person will find everyone," she explained quickly.

"Sounds great except for the fact that you're talking about a dark, four story building," Helga pointed out.

"So?" Curly grinned.

"I'm in," Gerald said. Arnold and Phoebe nodded in agreement. Helga stood up.

"Alright. I'm in, as long as Curly doesn't try anything tricky," Helga smiled, half joking.

"Okay. Ready...set...go," and with that, Curly, spun on his heel and sped off into the opposite direction; leaving everyone else to decide where they were going.

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Helga continued her descend down the stairs, continuing to walk slow and careful not to trip over anything.

She was near the front doors. She could tell because she could barely make out the shape of the check-out desk and the shelfs on the other side of her.

The main section of the first floor was three stories high, and the walls had hundreds of windows.

After what seemed like a couple minutes Helga slowed her pace and began wandering carelessly through the aisles and aisles of book shelves that was filled to the max with literature.

From the corner of her eye, she saw someone dash across the aisle. She spun around, then saw nothing. Slowly, she walked to the end of the aisle.

Staring up at the balcony above her, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She let out a loud yelp of surprise.

It was Arnold. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry," he whispered.

"It's okay," she caught her breath.

"I wonder where everyone else is," he wondered aloud.

"C'mon, let's go. They're probably on the top floors," Helga motioned to the balcony. She began walking towards the stairs with Arnold following close behind her.

Her heart began pounding. She was alone with Arnold. Just her, him, and the dark, dark library.

"Wow, this place gives me the creeps," Arnold shivered.

"Yeah I know," Helga agreed. It was pretty freaky. But she was with Arnold, so she felt perfectly comfortable.

_Forty-five minutes later..._

They found no one.

"Maybe we should sit down; and wait until they find us," Helga suggested, sitting down in one of the randomly placed benches against a wall. Arnold sat next to her. His leg was touching hers.

"Yeah, that'll be faster," he said. Say something, Helga, say something; anything, she urged herself. Her mouth couldn't open.

After a few moments of silence, Arnold let out a small laugh.

"What is it?" Helga asked.

"Nothing, I was just remembering how mean you were in the fourth grade; and how much you've changed from then," he told her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Helga lowered her eyebrow.

"Well you just changed. That's all," he replied.

"Is that good or bad?" she asked. He grinned.

"It's good," he said.

"You changed yourself. I was a bitch in grade school," Helga laughed.

"Oh, so you regret it?" he teased.

"Like I said; I had issues back then," she replied.

"How did I change?"

"You used to care about other peoples feelings," she blurted thoughtlessly. Arnold raised his eyebrows.

"What I meant was," she started quickly. "Was that you were more of a goody goody; always going around and helping other people. I remember that one time you stopped giving advice. The fourth grade was a real mess. I think it was even worse because people took MY advice," Helga explained.

Nice save; she told herself. Arnold laughed, recalling the memory.

"I guess we all have issues," he said.

"Some more than others," she replied. There was a silence; as if neither of them knew what to say next.

_HELGA POV_

_Perfect chance_...a voice screamed suddenly into my head. No; there was no way. No way in this world. Not no way, not no how.

_Perfect chance, Helga. Now is it. He doesn't have a girl friend, so there's nothing holding you back. It's perfect. It's in the dark, he can't see your face; and you're alone! This happened for a reason._

_SHUT UP!_ I screamed to that idiotic voice inside my head. Maybe I should...what better oppurtunity? What's the worst he could do? He HAS to remember that night on the FTI building...

Arnold glanced over at me, sensing something was wrong. I simply smiled nervously and shook my head.

"Arnold..." I started, my face red already. How was I going to do this? Arnold looked over at me.

"I..." I stopped abrubtly. I should just stop while i'm ahead. But I didn't.

"Well, there's something I mean to tell you; I mean meaning to tell you...but" I started. He looked a little confused but I couldn't blame him. Then my eyes began to water.

Brilliant, huh?

And of course, my face had to be in the moonlight from those huge, glass windows.

"Hey, you're crying! What's the matter?" he asked me, narrowing his eyes in concern. Why did he have to care so much about other people's feelings? Instead of answering, I shook my head, not wanting to talk about anything anymore.

"No, I'm not," I managed just below a whisper.

"Helga..."

"I'm _fine_!" I practically yelled. I quickly regretted it. Arnold shifted in his seat.

"Sorry," I said alot softer. "I'm just...so frusturated." I blurted. Arnold looked surprised.

"About what?" He asked. How could he still be so full of concern after that; and after how shitty I treated him?

"About...I don't know what about! Things just keep happening and there's no way for me to control any of it!" I confessed. Now I really was crying. I hated crying in front of people. Especially guys.

"Come on Helga, there had to have been something that went on to make you say that. Is it your parents? Is that what this is about?" he asked, trying his best to make me feel better and help me. I nodded, then shook my head.

"It's..." I started, my fingers shaking terribly. "It's you," I sobbed. Arnold looked surprised and shocked at the same time.

"What? Me? What did I do?" he asked, his eyes widening. He put his arm around my shoulder; his way of comforting a friend.

That only made me angrier. Can't he see I don't _want_ to be his friend? I've been his 'friend' since seventh grade, and I've wanted to be more then friends since preschool!

"Do you remember that one time, in fourth grade? When I...helped you and Gerald save the neighborhood; and then, I went crazy on top of that building?" I asked him, trying to control the tears that were pouring from my eyelids. Arnold thought a moment.

"Yes, I do. But I haven't given it much thought. Sure, I thought it was weird. I thought you must have been smoking something, but afterwards you, I guess, just wanted to pretty much forget the whole thing; so that's what I did," Arnold explained.

As a nervous habit, I bit down on my bottom lip so hard it almost bled. I can't take this anymore!!

"Arnold!! How dense can you be?!" I practically shouted. "I'm...I'm..._I LIKE YOU ALOT_!" I blurted thoughtlessly. "Are all guys this blind?!" I stood up, unable to control my emotions. Arnold stood up to calm me down.

"What?? Helga, relax and calm down! Is that what this is all about?!" Arnold sat down, trying to let it all sink in. Oh great. Now I shocked him. Now he thinks I'm a freak.

I sniffed miserably, knowing this wasn't going to be easy. What had I gotten myself into!? And _PLEASE, Lord Almighty up above_, please spare us both the humiliation of being found now. Just fifteen minutes. Max. Please.

Instead of anwswering, I sat there like a helpless bump on a log and continued to sob lightly.

Arnold just sat back, and took his arm from my shoulder. He leaned foward, leaning his elbows on his knees with his hands slightly folded in front of his face.

"I remember in fourth grade, you'd piss me off so bad sometimes I didn't want to go to school," he started.

What a comforting statement.

"Then there were those times when I knew you weren't all bad. And I know now, that you really weren't so bad. You were just a tough kid and you wanted everyone to know it, didn't you?" Arnold gave me a weak smile. I didnt reply. I was too humiliated to react.

"I knew you didn't mean all those things you said to me. I couldn't stay mad at you for long. Especially after you went through all that trouble...on Valentines," Arnold laughed. What?!

_He knew?!_

All that time and he didn't say anything?! How long did he know that that was me?!

Oh bother.

"I thought you kinda had something for me. In elementary school, the more you like someone, the more you pick on them, and make their life a living Hell," he laughed. Inside I breathed a sigh of relief. He was saying he had forgiven me along time ago.

Okay, so now what? Was he flattered? Shocked? Repulsed?

I almost fainted when he put one of his arms around me again.

"And then., believe it or not, there were few times when I thought I liked you, like you liked me, but I just shrugged it off. That was when I thought you really hated me. But I guess you don't," Arnold smiled warmly, comforting.

I gazed into his dark, warm emerald eyes. I couldn't believe what he did next. He put his other hand on my shoulder, then he slowly brought his lips to mine.

In the perfect world, I would have kissed him back, and in the perfect world, we would have just a few minutes more to be alone.

But it wasn't the perfect world.

_"THERE YOU GUYS ARE!"_ Curly shouted playfully at the top of his lungs. We quickly pulled away from each other, frightened by their reaction and hoping they hadn't seen too much. Now my face was red, and Arnold blushed just slightly.

And of course, the whole group had to be trailing behind him.

"We looked absolutly _everywhere!"_ Rhonda told us.

"Yeah, we thought you guys managed to escape, but then-" Phoebe stopped short, then widened her eyes.

"Helga! What's the matter? Were you crying?" she asked. Oh no. I forgot I was wearing layers of eyeliner. Now I could only imagine what I looked like; black halfway down my face underneath my eyes. I groaned, thinking quickly.

"No, Phoebe, I'm fine," I answered quickly. Thank God she didn't say anything more, and neither did anyone else.

"Well let's go now. We need to decide how or where we're going to sleep," Gerald said, turning and motioning for us to follow him.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I stood up. That was a close one, but it was worth it.

Arnold and I followed everyone a few feet behind them. I was still in a daze.

Halfway up the stairs, Arnold shyly wrappedonehand around mine.

10:07.

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	4. I CAN'T sleep

I'm sooooooo sorry for the delay! Here's chap 004! What more can I say:)

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"So...where did you say we were going to sleep?" Helga asked, plopping herself into a beanbag in between Arnold and Phoebe. She was still slightly embarassed, and had tried her best to scrub the remains of her eyeliner from her face on the sleeve of her sweater.

"I guess we could just sleep on these bean bags..." Phoebe suggested again.

"What if it gets cold?" Gerald asked.

"I don't think it will. The heaters have been on all week, and the only time they turn them off is on Saturday night before they close it for Sunday. I think we're all be fine, plus we're all wearing long sleeved," Phoebe pointed out.

The group shrugged in agreement. Rhonda thought a moment, then glanced around the small kids section they were sitting in.

"Where's Curly?" she asked.

"Oh no..." Arnold moaned.

"He's probably out getting himself into another near-death experience," Helga laughed.

"Maybe we should go find him. I don't trust that kid alone..." Gerald frowned. Before they could make up their minds, the lights above them flickered on for a split second, then off.

Covring their eyes from the sudden lights, they groaned.

"What the crap...?"

"Maybe a custodian is still here!"

"Maybe it's a ghost...!"

They stood up, and began to walk towards the stairs, in search of who messed with the lights and Curly.

Halfway down the stairs and heading to the first floor, Curly came running up to them with a grin on his face.

His face had smudges of sut and dirt, and his sleeves were rolled halfway up his arms. His hands had grime on them as well.

"Hi guys!" He greeted them. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Well we _WERE_ looking for you.." Helga said.

"What happened to you?" Arnold asked. Curly grinned again and wiped his fingers on his pants.

"I tried to fix the lighting," he told them happily. The gang looked disappointed that there was no one else in the library but themselves.

"Where was the light switch?" Rhonda asked curiously. Curly shrugged indifferently.

"In the basement," he replied.

"The basement? You went down there by yourself?" Rhonda's eyes widened in disbelief. Curly paused and looked at her to see if she was serious.

"Yeah, I went down there," he said in a slightly mocking tone, and lowered his eyebrow.

"My cousin's a mechanic," he said. "So I thought I knew a thing or two about that kinda stuff," Curly told them.

Everyone but Curly groaned in disappointment. Arnold let out a loud exagerated sigh.

With his hands in his pocket, he began kicking invisible dirt from the thin teal carpet with the tip of his worn converse. Helga kept her eye on him with a small smile on her face.

Rhonda yawned.

"I'm tired. What time is it?" Phoebe glanced at her watch.

"10:37."

"We might as well just go to sleep. That'll pass the time at least..."

"Are you kidding me? It's too EARLY to even think about sleep! I'm not even tired!" Curly exclaimed. Everyone figured. Curly was an obsessive insomniac who got two hours of sleep maximum each night. Rhonda rolled her eyes.

"Well while we're sleeping, then YOU can arrange that shelf you failed to complete not so long ago," Rhonda snapped with a small smile.

Twenty minutes later they had bean bags and pillows from the Children's Reading Area. They didn't have blankets. They'd have to do without.

The girls laid in one area, while the guys laid several yards away, near the large open windows.

There was a long, restless silence. Helga closed her eyes and rested her arms behind her head.

Thirty seconds from sleep, she heard a farting sound and a muffled laughter. Then she felt a crumpled paper bounce off her shoulder. She sighed loudly.

"You guys..." Rhonda warned.

It was going to be a long night.

_RHONDA'S P.O.V..._

Rubbing my eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that night, I sat up. Despite the fact that I was sleeping on mats, my back hurt like a bitch. I glanced at my watch but I couldn't read it. It was too dark.

Intending to turn on the light on my watch, I accidentally clicked the alarm button. The damned thing went off almost waking everyone and it scared the shit out of me! I waited for a few seconds for their reaction, but nothing happened. I could sense someone was still awake but I didn't know who. I shifted my legs, then stood up to leave.

My legs felt funny from lack of movement, and I almost fell at first, but I caught my balance. I walked farther down the library out of sight from everyone else and sat near one of the windows. I was exhausted but for the life of me I couldn't fall asleep.

I rested my elbo on the bench and stared out the huge window. I couldn't beleve how crazy downtown Hillwood looked at night with no cars or people or anything. Weeiiirdd.

I thought about Arnold and Helga, and couldn't help but to laugh out loud. They were such a cute couple and it was insanely obvious that they both have the hotts for eachother. Okay so maybe with Arnold, it's not AS obvious, but I'm not blind for crying out loud. It's not like I can't see his eyes trail after her everytime she leaves the room or anything.

Why they weren't dating was beyond me. Suddenly I saw a small green light from where the rest of them were sleeping. At first I gasped, then I realized it was one of the guys. I could see the sillouette. It didn't have the stack of hair, or the football head so I knew it was Curly.

I grinned, and Curly approached with a big grin on his face too. He flipped off his watch light and sat next to me and casually placed his hands behind his head. I could see the moon on his face and he didn't look the slightest bit tired. I knew he was an insomniac. His hair was ruffled up from trying to sleep and he wasn't wearing his glasses.

_It was amazing how you don't know how good-looking someone is until you actually look at them._ Oh my gosh, did I actually just think that? Wow...it's not like I _LIKE_ him or anything. Sure he's really cool and has an insane sense of humour, but it's not like...

"Sup, princess?" Curly grinned for the millionth time. He always had a grin on his face. I loved it. _Okay Rhonda, just screw it. Give it up. Whats the use of denying it?_ I told myself, and I was glad I made that discovery too. Is it my fault he has that jet black hair and those deep black eyes? No not really. So I can't blame myself. It's okay, right? I shouldn't feel BAD for liking him, and I didn't. But does he like me too? It's possible, I suppose, but maybe not. The only time I really talked to him was during biology class and keyboarding.

"Hey," I answered. Oh great. Now it was going to be all akward now that I've decided I LIKE him right before the conversation.

"I can't sleep. It's still way to early." Curly scratched his head and stared out the window.

"Curly do you have a girlfriend?" I burted thoughtlessly. I could have killed myself for asking that. But it was okay. I was in a crazy crazy mood.

I looked over at Curly, and he gave me a strange small smile. I'm not sure what it meant.

I think it meant he didn't.

11:29 p.m

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Review review! Thanks alot to all who have been doing so too :) It's GREATLY appreciated 


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